naval force, after resisting Cæsar a long time and being very greatly
damaged by the heavy sea that set against them ahead, hardly gave up the
contest at the tenth hour. The dead were said not to be more than five
thousand, but there were taken three hundred ships, as Cæsar has
recorded. There were not many who knew that Antonius had fled, and those
who heard of it could not at first believe that he had gone and left
them, when he had nineteen legions of unvanquished soldiers and twelve
thousand horsemen; as if he had not often experienced fortune both ways,
and were not exercised in the reverses of innumerable contests and wars.
The soldiers longed and expected to see him, hoping that he would soon
show himself from some quarter or other; and they displayed so much
fidelity and courage that, even when his flight was well known, they
kept together seven days and paid no regard to Cæsar's messages to them.
But at last, when their general Canidius had stolen away by night and
left the camp, being now deserted of all and betrayed by their
commanders, they went over to the conqueror. Upon this Cæsar[450] sailed
to Athens, and having come to terms with the Greeks, he distributed the
grain that remained over after the war among the cities, which were in
a wretched condition and stripped of money, slaves and beasts of burden.
Now my great-grandfather Nikarchus used to relate that all the
citizens[451] were compelled to carry down on their shoulders a certain
quantity of wheat to the sea at Antikyra, and that their speed was
quickened by the whip; they had carried, he said, one supply in this
manner, and had just measured out another and were about to set out,
when news came that Antonius was defeated, and this saved the city; for
the agents and soldiers of Antonius immediately fled, and they divided
the corn among themselves.
LXIX. When Antonius had reached the coast of Libya, and had sent
Cleopatra forwards to Egypt from Parætonium,[452] he had his fill of
solitude, wandering and rambling about with two friends, one a Greek,
Aristokrates, a rhetorician, and the other a Roman, Lucilius,[453] about
whom I have said elsewhere that at Philippi, in order that Brutus might
escape, he had surrendered to the pursuers, pretending that he was
Brutus, and his life being spared by Antonius on that account, he
remained faithful to him and firm to the last critical times. When the
general[454] to whom he had intrusted the troops in Libya had caused
their defection, Antonius made an effort to kill himself, but he was
prevented by his friends and conveyed to Alexandria, where he found
Cleopatra contemplating a hazardous and great undertaking. The isthmus
which separates the Red Sea from the sea of Egypt[455] and is
considered to be the boundary between Asia and Libya, in the part where
it is most contracted by the sea, and the width is least, is about three
hundred stadia across; and here Cleopatra undertook to raise her ships
out of the water and to drag them across the neck of land, and so
bringing her ships into the Arabian gulf with much money and a large
force, to settle beyond the limits of Egypt and to escape from slavery
and war. But as the Arabs of Petra[456] burnt the first ships which were
drawn up, and Antonius thought that the army at Actium still kept
together, Cleopatra desisted from her design and guarded the approaches
to Egypt. Antonius now leaving the city and the company of his friends,
built for himself a dwelling in the sea, near the Pharos,[457] by
throwing forward a mole into the water; and here he lived a fugitive
from men, and he said that he was content with Timon's life and admired
it, considering himself in like plight with Timon; for he too had been
wronged by his friends and had experienced their ingratitude, and that
therefore he distrusted and disliked all men.
LXX. Timon[458] was an Athenian, who lived about the time of the
Peloponnesian war, as we may conclude from the plays of Aristophanes and
Plato; for he is brought forward in them as peevish and misanthropical.
Though he avoided and rejected all intercourse with men, yet he received
in a friendly manner Alkibiades, who was a young audacious fellow, and
showed him great affection. And when Apemantus wondered at this and
asked the reason, he said that he liked the young man because he knew
that he would be the cause of much ill to the Athenians. Apemantus was
the only person whom he sometimes allowed to approach him, because he
was like himself and imitated his mode of life. On one occasion, during
the festival called Choes,[459] when the two were feasting together,
Apemantus said, "How delightful the entertainment is, Timon;" "Yes, if
you were not here," was the reply. It is said that when the Athenians
were in public assembly, Timon ascended the bema and called for silence,
which raised great expectation on account of the unusual nature of the
circumstance: he then said, "I have a small plot of building-ground, men
of Athens, and there is a fig-tree growing on it, on which many of the
citizens have already hanged themselves. Now as I intend to build on the
ground, I wished to give public notice that, if any of you choose, they
may hang themselves before the fig-tree is cut down." After his death he
was buried at Halæ, near the sea; but the shore in front of the place
slipped down, and the sea surrounding the tomb made it inaccessible and
unapproachable. The inscription on the tomb was:
Here from the load of life released I lie:
Ask not my name: but take my curse, and die.
And they say that he wrote this inscription during his lifetime; but
that which is commonly circulated as the inscription is by Callimachus:
Timon misanthropist I am. Away!
Curse, an' thou will't, but only do not stay.
LXXI. These are a few things out of many about Timon. Canidius himself
brought intelligence to Antonius of the loss of his forces at Actium,
and he heard that Herodes,[460] the Jew, who had certain legions and
cohorts, had gone over to Cæsar, and that the rest of the princes in
like manner were revolting, and that none of his troops out of Egypt
still kept together. However, none of these things disturbed him; but,
as if he gladly laid aside hope as he did care, he left that dwelling on
the sea, which he called Timoneium, and being taken by Cleopatra into
the palace, he turned the city to feasting and drinking and distribution
of money, registering the son of Cleopatra and Cæsar among the young
men, and putting on Antyllus, his son by Fulvia,[461] the vest without
the purple hem, which marked the attainment of full age, on which
occasion banquets and revellings and feasts engaged Alexandria for many
days. They themselves put an end to that famed company of the Inimitable
Livers, and they formed another, not at all inferior to that in
refinement and luxury and expense, which they called the company of
those who would die together. For the friends of Antonius registered
themselves as intending to die together, and they continued enjoying
themselves in a succession of banquets. Cleopatra got together all kinds
of deadly poisons, and she tried the painless character of each by
giving them to those who were in prison under sentence of death. When
she discovered that the quick poisons brought on a speedy death with
pain, and the less painful were not quick, she made trial of
animals,[462] which in her presence were set upon one another. And she
did this daily; and among nearly all she found that the bite of the asp
alone brought on without spasms and groans a sleepy numbness and
drowsiness, with a gentle perspiration on the face, and dulling of the
perceptive faculties, which were softly deprived of their power, and
made resistance to all attempts to awake and arouse them, as is the case
with those who are in a deep sleep.
LXXII. At the same time they sent also ambassadors to Cæsar into Asia,
Cleopatra requesting the dominion of Egypt for her children, and
Antonius asking to be allowed to live as a private person at Athens, if
he could not be permitted to stay in Egypt. Through the want of friends
and their distrust owing to the desertions, Euphronius, the instructor
of the children, was sent on the embassy. For Alexas,[463] of Laodiceia,
who at Rome had become known to Antonius through Timagenes, and
possessed most influence of all the Greeks, who also had been the most
active of the instruments of Cleopatra against Antonius, and had
overthrown all the reflections which rose in his mind about Octavia, had
been sent to King Herodes to keep him from changing; and having stayed
there and betrayed Antonius, he had the impudence to go into the
presence of Cæsar, relying on Herodes. But Herodes helped him not, but
being forthwith confined and carried in chains to his own country, he
was put to death there by order of Cæsar. Such was the penalty for his
infidelity that Alexas paid to Antonius in his lifetime.
LXXIII. Cæsar would not listen to what was said on behalf of Antonius;
but as to Cleopatra, he replied that she should not fail to obtain
anything that was reasonable if she would kill Antonius or drive him
away. He also sent with the ambassadors of Antonius and Cleopatra one
Thyrsus,[464] a freedman of his, a man not devoid of judgment, nor, as
coming from a young general, one who would fail in persuasive address to
a haughty woman who was wonderfully proud of her beauty. This man,
having longer interviews with Cleopatra than the rest, and being
specially honoured, caused Antonius to have suspicions, and he seized
and whipped him; and he then sent him back to Cæsar with a letter to the
effect that Thyrsus, by giving himself airs and by his insolent
behaviour, had irritated him, who was easily irritated by reason of his
misfortunes. "But you," he said, "if you do not like the thing, have my
freedman Hipparchus. Hang him up and whip him, that we may be on equal
terms." Upon this Cleopatra, with the view of doing away with his cause
of complaint and suspicions, paid more than usual court to Antonius: she
kept her own birthday in a mean manner and a way suitable to her
condition, but she celebrated the birthday of Antonius with an excess of
splendour and cost, so that many of those who were invited to the feast
came poor and went away rich. Agrippa[465] in the meantime called Cæsar
back, frequently writing to him from Rome, and urging that affairs there
required his presence.
LXXIV. Accordingly for the time the war was suspended; but when the
winter was over, Cæsar advanced through Syria and his generals through
Libya. Pelusium was taken, and it was said that Seleukus gave it up, not
without the consent of Cleopatra. But Cleopatra surrendered to Antonius
the wife and children of Seleukus to be put to death; and as she had a
tomb and a monument constructed of unusual beauty and height, which she
had built close to the temple of Isis, she collected there the most
precious of the royal treasures, gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, ebony,
ivory, and cinnamon, and also a great quantity of fire-wood and tow; so
that Cæsar, being afraid about the money, lest Cleopatra becoming
desperate should destroy and burn the wealth, kept continually
forwarding to her hopes of friendly treatment while he was advancing
with his army against the city. When Cæsar had taken his position near
the hippodrome, Antonius sallied forth and fought gallantly, and he put
Cæsar's cavalry to flight and pursued them to the camp. Elated with his
victory, he entered the palace and embraced Cleopatra in his armour, and
presented to her one of the soldiers who had fought most bravely.
Cleopatra gave the soldier as a reward of his courage a golden
breastplate and a helmet. The man took them, and in the night deserted
to Cæsar.
LXXV. Again, Antonius sent to Cæsar and challenged him to single combat.
Cæsar replied that Antonius had many ways of dying, on which Antonius,
reflecting that there was no better mode of death for him than in
battle, determined to try a land battle and a naval battle at the same
time. And at supper, it is said, he bade the slaves to pour out and
feast him cheerfully, for it was uncertain whether they would do that on
the morrow or would be serving other masters, while he should lie a
corpse and should be a nothing. Seeing that his friends shed tears at
his words, he said that he would not lead them out to a battle from
which he would seek for himself a glorious death rather than safety and
victory. During this night, it is said, about the middle thereof, while
the city was quiet and depressed through fear and expectation of the
future, all at once certain harmonious sounds from all kinds of
instruments were heard, and shouts of a crowd with Evoes[466] and
satyric leapings, as if some company of revellers not without noise were
going out of the city; and the course of the procession seemed to be
through the middle of the city to the gate leading outwards in the
direction of the enemy, and at this point the tumult made its way out,
being loudest there. And those who reflected on the sign were of opinion
that the god to whom Antonius all along most likened himself and most
claimed kinship with was deserting him.
LXXVI.[467] At daybreak Antonius posted his troops on the hills in front
of the city, and watched his ships, which were put in motion and
advancing against those of the enemy; and as he expected to see
something great done by them, he remained quiet. But when the men of
Antonius came near, they saluted with their oars Cæsar's men, and as
they returned the salute, the men of Antonius changed sides, and the
fleet becoming one by the junction of all the ships, sailed with the
vessels' heads turned against the city. As soon as Antonius saw this, he
was deserted by the cavalry, who changed sides, and being defeated with
his infantry he retired into the city, crying out that he was betrayed
by Cleopatra to those with whom he was warring on her account.
Cleopatra, fearing his anger and despair, fled to the tomb and let down
the folding doors which were strengthened with bars and bolts; and she
sent persons to Antonius to inform him that she was dead. Antonius,
believing the intelligence, said to himself, "Why dost thou still delay,
Antonius? fortune has taken away the sole remaining excuse for clinging
to life." He then entered his chamber, and loosing his body armour and
taking it in pieces, he said: "Cleopatra, I am not grieved at being
deprived of thee, for I shall soon come to the same place with thee; but
I am grieved that I, such an Imperator, am shown to be inferior to a
woman in courage." Now Antonius had a faithful slave named Eros, whom he
had long before exhorted, if the necessity should arise, to kill him;
and he now claimed the performance of the promise. Eros drew his sword
and held it out as if he were going to strike his master, but he turned
away his face and killed himself. As Eros fell at his master's feet
Antonius said, "Well done, Eros, though you are not able to do this for
me, you teach me what I ought to do;" and piercing himself through the
belly he threw himself on the bed. But the wound was not immediately
mortal; and accordingly, as the flow of blood ceased when he lay down,
he came to himself and requested the bystanders to finish him. But they
fled from the chamber while he was calling out and writhing in pain,
till Diomedes the secretary came from Cleopatra with orders to convey
him to her to the tomb.
LXXVII.[468] When he learned that she was alive, he eagerly commanded
his slaves to take him up, and he was carried in their arms to the
doors of the chamber. Cleopatra did not open the doors, but she appeared
at a window, from which she let down cords and ropes; and when the
slaves below had fastened Antonius to them, she drew him up with the aid
of the two women whom alone she had admitted into the tomb with her.
Those who were present say that there never was a more piteous sight;
for stained with blood and struggling with death he was hauled up,
stretching out his hands to her, while he was suspended in the air. For
the labour was not light for women, and Cleopatra with difficulty,
holding with her hands and straining the muscles of her face, pulled up
the rope, while those who were below encouraged her and shared in her
agony. When she had thus got him in and laid him down, she rent her
garments over him, and beating her breasts and scratching them with her
hands, and wiping the blood off him with her face, she called him master
and husband and Imperator; and she almost forgot her own misfortunes
through pity for his. Antonius, stopping her lamentations, asked for
wine to drink, whether it was that he was thirsty or that he expected to
be released more speedily. When he had drunk it, he advised her, if it
could be done with decency, to look after the preservation of her own
interests, and to trust to Procleius[469] most of the companions of
Cæsar; and not to lament him for his last reverses, but to think him
happy for the good things that he had obtained, having become the most
illustrious of men and had the greatest power, and now not ignobly a
Roman by a Roman vanquished.
LXXVIII. Just as Antonius died, Procleius came from Cæsar;[470] for
after Antonius had wounded himself and was carried to Cleopatra,
Derketæus, one of his guards, taking his dagger and concealing it,
secretly made his way from the palace, and running to Cæsar, was the
first to report the death of Antonius, and he showed the blood-stained
dagger. When Cæsar heard the news, he retired within his tent and wept
for a man who had been related to him by marriage, and his colleague in
command, and his companion in many struggles and affairs. He then took
the letters that had passed between him and Antonius, and calling his
friends, read them, in order to show in what a reasonable and fair tone
he had written himself, and how arrogant and insolent Antonius had
always been in his answers. Upon this he sent Procleius with orders, if
possible, above all things to secure Cleopatra alive; for he was afraid
about the money, and he thought it a great thing for the glory of his
triumph to lead her in the procession. However Cleopatra would not put
herself in the hands of Procleius; but they talked together while he was
standing on the outside close to the building near a door on a level
with the ground, which was firmly secured, but allowed a passage for the
voice. In their conversation Cleopatra entreated that her children might
have the kingdom, and Procleius bade her be of good cheer and trust to
Cæsar in all things.
LXXIX. After Procleius had inspected the place and reported to Cæsar,
Gallus[471] was sent to have another interview with her; and having come
to the door he purposely prolonged the conversation. In the meantime
Procleius applied a ladder and got through the window by which the women
took in Antonius; and he immediately went down with two slaves to the
door at which Cleopatra stood with her attention directed to Gallus. One
of the women who were shut up with Cleopatra called out, "Wretched
Cleopatra, you are taken alive," on which she turned round, and seeing
Procleius, attempted to stab herself, for she happened to have by her
side a dagger such as robbers wear: but Procleius, quickly running up to
her and holding her with both his hands, said, "You wrong yourself,
Cleopatra, and Cæsar too by attempting to deprive him of the opportunity
of a noble display of magnanimity and to fix on the mildest of
commanders the stigma of faithlessness and implacability." At the same
time he took away her dagger and shook her dress to see if she concealed
any poison. There was also sent from Cæsar one of his freedmen,
Epaphroditus, whose orders were to watch over her life with great care,
but as to the rest to give way in all things that would make her most
easy and be most agreeable to her.
LXXX. Cæsar entered the city talking with Areius the philosopher, and he
had given Areius[472] his right hand, that he might forthwith be
conspicuous among the citizens and be admired on account of the special
respect that he received from Cæsar. Entering the gymnasium and
ascending a tribunal that was made for him, the people the while being
terror-struck and falling down before him, he bade them get up, and he
said that he acquitted the people of all blame, first on account of the
founder Alexander, second because he admired the beauty and magnitude of
the city, and third, to please his friend Areius. Such honour Areius
obtained from Cæsar, and he got the pardon of many others; and among
them was Philostratus,[473] a man of all sophists the most competent to
speak on the sudden, but one who claimed to be of the Academy without
just grounds. Wherefore Cæsar, who abominated his habits, would not
listen to his entreaties. But Philostratus, letting his white beard grow
and putting on a dark vest, followed behind Areius, continually uttering
this verse:
Wise save the wise, if wise indeed they be.
Cæsar hearing of this, pardoned Philostratus, wishing rather to release
Areius from odium than Philostratus from fear.
LXXXI. Of the children of Antonius, Antyllus,[474] the son of Fulvia,
was given up by his pædagogus Theodorus and put to death; and when the
soldiers had cut off his head, the pædagogus took the most precious
stone which he wore about his neck and sewed it in his belt; and though
he denied the fact, he was convicted of it and crucified. The children
of Cleopatra were guarded together with those who had charge of them,
and they had a liberal treatment; but as to Cæsarion, who was said to be
Cleopatra's son by Cæsar, her mother sent him to India with much
treasure by way of Ethiopia; but another pædagogus like Theodorus, named
Rhodon, persuaded him to return, saying that Cæsar invited him to take
the kingdom. While Cæsar was deliberating about Cæsarion, it is said
that Areius observed: "Tis no good thing, a multitude of Cæsars."[475]
LXXXII. Now Cæsar put Cæsarion to death after the death of Cleopatra.
Though many asked for the body of Antonius to bury it, both kings and
commanders, Cæsar did not take it from Cleopatra, but it was interred by
her own hands sumptuously and royally, and she received for that purpose
all that she wished. In consequence of so much grief and pain, for her
breasts were inflamed by the blows that she had inflicted and were sore,
and a fever coming on, she gladly availed herself of this pretext for
abstaining from food and with the design of releasing herself from life
without hindrance. There was a physician with whom she was familiar,
Olympus, to whom she told the truth, and she had him for her adviser and
assistant in accomplishing her death, as Olympus said in a history of
these transactions which he published. Cæsar suspecting her design,
plied her with threats and alarms about her children, by which Cleopatra
was thrown down as by engines of war, and she gave up her body to be
treated and nourished as it was wished.
LXXXIII. Cæsar himself came a few days after to see her and pacify
her.[476] Cleopatra happened to be lying on a mattress meanly dressed,
and as he entered she sprang up in a single vest and fell at his feet
with her head and face in the greatest disorder, her voice trembling and
her eyes weakened by weeping. There were also visible many marks of the
blows inflicted on her breast; and in fine her body seemed in no respect
to be in better plight than her mind. Yet that charm and that saucy
confidence in her beauty were not completely extinguished, but, though
she was in such a condition, shone forth from within and showed
themselves in the expression of her countenance. When Cæsar had bid her
lie down and had seated himself near her, she began to touch upon a kind
of justification, and endeavoured to turn all that had happened upon
necessity and fear of Antonius; but as Cæsar on each point met her with
an answer, being confuted, she all at once changed her manner to move
him by pity and by prayers, as a person would do who clung most closely
to life. Finally she handed to him a list of all the treasures that she
had; and when Seleukus, one of her stewards, declared that she was
hiding and secreting some things, she sprang up and laying hold of his
hair, belaboured him with many blows on the face. As Cæsar smiled and
stopped her, she said, "But is it not scandalous, Cæsar, that you have
condescended to come to me and speak to me in my wretched condition, and
my slaves make it a matter of charge against me if I have reserved some
female ornaments, not for myself forsooth, wretch that I am, but that I
may give a few things to Octavia and your wife Livia, and so through
their means make you more favourable to me and more mild." Cæsar was
pleased with these words, being fully assured that she wished to live.
Accordingly, after saying that he left these matters to her care and
that in everything else he would behave to her better than she expected,
he went away, thinking that he had deceived her; but he had deceived
himself.